American Express Membership Rewards - Gold is back in the UK (but what benefits?)

It seems as though the Gold card as made a reappearance in England after disappearing for a while. Since I just moved here, I thought I would explore this as an option. Their website is, unfortunately, fairly poor and did not give many details.

Does anyone know what the benefits of this card are? Specifically in regards to airlines and hotels?

I think to gold card is a good option for those who want to collect membership rewards points but consider the price of platinum too high for the benefits offered. Platinum has a lot more benefits, mostly travel related.

Both Gold and Platinum have a travel inconvenience benefit. Many people prefer the plat benefit as it applies even for flights not booked on the card, the gold benefit only applies if you pay for the flights in full on the card (therefore reward flights or flights paid by your company don't count). However, the Gold benefit is more generous.

Platinum

Delay, cancellation, overbooking, missed departure?

Relax at the restaurant of your choice, with up to £150 per person to spend on your Card or use this money towards additional travel the delay may have caused

Baggage delay?

If baggage is delayed, after four hours you can spend up to £300 per person on clothes or other essential items on your Card
After 48 hours, you can add another £300 to this figure

Gold

If you experience more than 4 hours wait due to a flight delay or cancellation, spend as much as £200 on your Card for meals and refreshments or accommodation. If your baggage is delayed on your outward journey for more than 6 hours, use your Card for the purchase of essential clothing and toiletries to a maximum of £750 with a further £1,000 if your luggage is not returned within 48 hours. All expenses must be charged to the American Express Gold Card.

The Gold Card benefits seem to be in total, whereas the plat benefits seem to be per person (not sure what they mean by 'per person'. Do they classify a person as a supplementary cardholder, anyone on the same PNR or anyone related to you on the same trip?).

Note also that the UK Gold charge card includes up to four supplemetary cards at no additional cost...

http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/gold_charge_mr.shtml?uk_nu=leftnav


It is interesting that the Gold International Currency Cards have also been refreshed, but are very different than the new UK Gold charge card. The Green and Platinum ICC cards are still substantially similar to their UK counterparts.

The Gold ICC cards include the Platinum-style travel insurance which is valid even if the card is not used for the trip, but the annual fee is now $300 (or E300 for the Euro version).

http://www.americanexpress.com/lacidc/iccsite/compare_the_american_express_cards.shtml

Note also that the UK Gold charge card includes up to four supplemetary cards at no additional cost...

http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/gold_charge_mr.shtml?uk_nu=leftnav


Best to double check that before applying as the info on the website is inconsistent. It says up to 4 free supplementary, but when you click on apply it lists a £35 fee.

As a gold cardholder who applied for the card before its temporary disappearance I can say that my additional cardholder has to pay a fee for the card so this must be a new benefit if it is true.